Lining structure for lightweight jackets



July 25, 1961 s. BUBES 2,993,210

LINING STRUCTURE FOR LIGHTWEIGHT JACKETS Filed Oct. 12, 1959 5.? 5. .Z. PRIOR ART .52 7. 5- PRIOR ART 3 INVENTOR Samuel fiuZeS ATTORNEY 2,993,210 LINING STRUCTURE FOR LIGHTWEIGHT JACKETS Samuel Bubes, Teaneck, NJ. (2602 Pine Drive NE, Cleveland, Tenn.) Filed Oct. 12, 1959, Ser. No. 845,704 3 Claims. (Cl. 2-93) This invention relates to a novel construction and arrangement of the facing and lining of a coat or jacket or coat-like garment which is particularly adapted to improve the appearance of coat-like apparel as manufactured to make alternations of the coat easier and to eliminate strains and bunching of stitching and the lining at the lining seam which occurs in conventional lined lightweight jackets and coat-like garments of the wash and wear type after laundering.

In the manufacture of coats and jackets of lightweight fabric adapted for wear on a year round basis, it has been found necessary to provide a lining for the front and back construction of the garment in order that the garment holds its shape properly during wear or storage. In contrast to the requirement for lining suit and sport jackets tailored from lightweight fabrics, for example, 6 ounce fabric, heavier sports coats and jackets made of heavier weight fabric, for example, 12 ounce fabric or heavier, may be made unlined, or with a skeleton lining or with the lining which is sewn at a parallel edge about 2-3 inches from the side seam of the garment.

However, it is recognized that better tailoring requires the lining of both lightweight and heavyweight fabrics in order to provide a superior tailored jacket or coat construction which will maintain its shape in the manufacturers warehouse, in the retailing establishment and in the closet of the wearer. Even where heavier and stiffer fabrics are used for manufacture, the repeated dry cleaning and pressing to which the garment is subjected makes mandatory the provision of a suitableshape retaining lining for the garment which must reinforce the garment to maintain the desired shape when worn by the customer.

In the provision of the conventional types of lining for coats and jackets made of heavier fabrics economies have been effected in manufacture of cheaper garments by stitching the lining to the interior front panel of the garment along a line about 2-3 inches back fi'om the side seam between front and back panels to provide the socalled lining. The stitching selected of lightweight thread and matching color to the fabric of the outer panels is fairly well hidden when viewed'from the outside of the garment when the lining or felling panel is felled by experienced tailors to heavier weight fabric. However, this felling operation canried out in the lightweight fabrics which are now in great demand can be readily seen when viewed from the outside of the garment. Even in the hands of the most skillful tailor a fine indented line along the stitched edge of the lining may be perceived particularly after the garment has been subjected to some wear and is dry cleaned and pressed, this is particularly the case where the lining is sewn to the body by special machinery, namely, the Union Special or Lewis Felling machining, these machines require constant adjustment for every change in fabric as well as lining.

Further, the use of lightweight stitching thread for hiding the indented line when stitching the lining into lightweight jackets is unsatisfactory because the lighter weight thread is weaker and tends to break during normal wear of the garment. For these reasons, the practice has been to abandon the use of skeleton linings and /5 linings which are stitched away from the side seam and to utilize the half lining construction in Which the stitches for the lining are confined to the side seams connecting outer frontand back panels of the coat-like garment. In this United States Patent 0 Patented July 25, I 1961 way the lightweight stitching which tends to loosen during wearing or cleaning is not caught and easily ripped to dislodge the lining and to make the garment unsightly and entirely unwearable.

The alterations to fit the garment to the wearer for the half lined garment require the steps of removing the lining from the side seam when either letting out or taking in the side seam for such alteration. The requirement for removing the lining during alteration in the half lined garment in light weight fabric adds to the labor and cost for alteration while the unsightly appearance of the'lining stiching in the lined garment presents an unsatisfactory condition to the wearer of the garment which may be registered as a complaint against the manufacturer and retailer. Wherever and whenever lining has to be. detached there is always the calculated risk of tear and in wash and wear lining particularly so because of the very lightweight fabric and because it being made of nylon type the fabric ravels so much more and tears much easier.

The factor of cheapness of manufacture in favor of lining is not off-set since the consumer demands better appearance and better shape-holding properties for coat and jacket garments in the lightweight wash and wear fabrics than are possible to achieve with the lining. Frequently, due to the lightness of the fabric, lumps or press marks reveal the presence of the underline seam of the leading edge of the lining which is off-set from the side seam of the coat-like garment. As the outer fabric, is changed to lighter and lighter weights the likelihood of unsightliness from partly exposed stitching, from visual contrast of lining color and body fabric color perceived through the body fabric and the difficulties for reinforcing the lightweight body fabric all contribute to dissatisfaction at the retail and consumer levels.

It is therefore the primary objective of the present invention to provide a coat-type garment particularly adapted to overcome the problems encountered when these garments are made from lightweight fabrics for wash and wear wherein the lining for reinforcing the body fabric is provided in the usual construction with the seamsopen and exposed for easy alteration, said lining app'lied to a double edge of the body fabric which is inwardly off-set from the seam, said doubled edge being seamed at the side seam between front and back panelsof the garment and being off-set at its trailing edge for attachment to the lining by an amount which is about to about of the width of the front panels. A further object ofthe invention is to provide a garment of the type stated and the method of making the garment which is simple and economical.

FIGS. 1 and 2 which show a conventional lining are first described to point out certain features which are different than in the invention.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view of an inside view of a part of a coat front showing the conventional method of assembling the inner lining and side seam of the coat;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a pattern of a coat front panel as cut according to the present invention; 7

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the relation of the inner lining and coat side seam acoordingto the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary line 55 of FIG. 4. v

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the accompanying. draw ing the /2 hemmed and faced lining 10 is sewn at Sem 5 sectional view on immediately next to the side seam 3 along the stitching line or liner seam 5 at the back end of the lining and is sewn at the front edge of the lining along stitching 4 at the front under edge of the front right panel 1 of the coat. After stitching along top line 6 and bottom line 7 of the front right panel, the conventional hemmed /2 lining 10 provides the usual /2 lining for each of the front panels 1 of the coat which are attached along side seam 3 to the back panel 2. At each of the stitched seams of the lining, e.g., back seam 5,'top seam 6, bottom seam 7 and front seam 4, the lining material is folded back. This folded edge is illustratively shown for back seam 5 of the lining 10 in FIG. 2.

Alteration to take in or let out material of the front panel 1 is carried out by ripping side seam 3 of the front and back panels, ripping stitching line 5 of the liner readjusting the width of the front panel 1, refolding either or both of the edges 11 or 12 of the front panel, and refolding and resetting the lining 10 at stitching line 5. After refolding the edges of the front and back panels a new side seam is stitched. After the side seam 3 is restitched, the lining back seam 5 is restitched. Body material and lining material may be cut away during the operation or may be added by stitching and seaming if desired.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the body material of the front panel 20 is seamed at side seam 13 of the coat to an extension of the same body fabric 20 and not to the usual lining material along the immediately adjacent side seam for the lining.

The body material of the front panel 20 of FIG. 5 is folded over in the usual manner as shown in FIG. 2, but instead of terminating at the inturned edge, the body material is doubled back and a width of body material serving as the liner leading edge to the side seam'is provided for attachment to the liner.

The lining or felling panel 30 is stitched with suitable thread to the inside of the front panel 20 at top seam 16 and front seam 14 as shown in FIG. 4. The top seam 16 and front seam 14 are no different than in the conventional garment shown in FIG. 1.

At the trailing edge of the inturned edge of body material the lining 30 is stitched along liner seam line 25.

Elfectively the extension of the body material of the front panel 20 beyond the side seam 13 between front panel 20 and back 22 in accordance with the invention provides an extension in the /2 lining construction of about 1%"4" in the usual coat sizes, this extension of body material serving the function of a lining.

The width of this lining extension body material varies with coat size and provides the advantage of a substantial excess of body material for alteration.

Alteration of the garment involves merely ripping the body side seam 13 but does not require the ripping of the liner side seam 23 since sufficient body material is available for expanding the front panel 20, refolding and resetting the folded edge 21 in the case where alteration is for the purpose of making the garment larger to fit the wearer.

In the case where the garment is made smaller, the folded portion 21 is made wider by doubling back excess material and the liner seam 23 is intact, no-ripping or resetting of the seam being necessary.

Although a slightly greater amount of body fabric is required for preparation of the lining arrangement this slight additional fabric requirement is more than off set by the advantage in case of alteration. Thus, it is seen that in contrast to the time consuming steps of alteration required in the refitting of garments of conventional construction, the lining and seam construction of the present invention makes unnecessary ripping, refolding and restitching of the lining in carrying out alterations which occur in the retail store.

, Also, no line of stitching for the lining material isattached to the front panel 20 at the side seam. 13 as is the case where a lining is attached directly to the front panel by the usual method thereby providing an advantage in appearance. The construction of the invention is thus seen to overcome the difliculty of poor appearance of liner seam showing through while retaining all of the advantages of the liner which cannot be used with lightweight wash and Wear suit jacket construction.

In order to more fully point out the present invention in respect to various types of lightweight fabrics which may be employed for construction of lightweight suits and sports jackets, there is submitted below an illustrative example of the invention from which the advantages of the simplicity of construction, ease of alteration and superiority of reinforcement can be seen.

Example I The example illustrates the operation of the invention in the manufacturing of a suit jacket which is not of the wash and wear type and is of the tropical worsted type.

A fabric known as Raeford 280, manufactured by Burlington Mills having a weight of six ounces per yard, and which is a 55/45 mixture of wool and Dacron is cut in the usual manner for coat. manufacture. The front coat panel is lined with taffeta acetate rayon having a weight of about 23 ounces per yard in the construction shown in FIG. 4 herein to make a lining in the coat. The sewing of the lining to the panel is carried out with nylon lining thread using a Singer 9610 sewing machine. In contrast to the operation by the present method of the invention in which an ordinary Singer sewing machine is used for stitching the lining, prior lining operations using the same taffeta and Raeford lightweight fabric required the use of a special sewing machine, e.g. a Lewis Line- Stitch or a Union Special Line-Stitch machine. These special machines serve to catch the body fabric very lightly to the lining.

Difficulty has been experienced with these machines, since in instances where stitching is not sufficiently light, unsightly stitched lines are visible on the outer body panel, and in instances where the stitching is too light the attachment is not secure enough to withstand normal wear and cleaning. These disadvantages are overcome by the invention.

Example 11 This example covers fabrication of a wash and wear jacket. The operation is as carried out in Example I. The body panel of the wash and wear jacket is a Dacroncotton mixture (65/35) having a weight of 6 ounces per yard, and the lining is a nylon taffeta, 2 ounces per yard in weight. Light nylon thread is used for sewing the lining to the panel in the construction shown in FIG. 4.

The illustration of front and back panels 20 and 22 in FIG. 4 are of vertical straight panels in which the front body panel has a width sufficient to extend from a distance of about A to about /3 of the width ofthe front panel'after folding for attachment by side seaming to the back body panel. After folding the front body panel along the seam line for obtaining the proper front panel width in coatsize, and after attaching the front panel. and the back panel by a body side seam the lining is attached to the inward extension of the front panel, and is also attached to the top, bottom and front portions of the front panel to serve as the /s type lining.

(A2) The lining may be an inwardly folded portion of the front body panel which comprises an'extension of fabric which is integral with the body fabric of the front panel and the garment. Or the lining may be a sewn extension of the body material.

(A3) In this latter case, the lining is an inwardly folded portion of said front body panel comprising an extension of fabric which is an attached strip of the same material as the material of the outer body fabric of the garment.

(A4) The front body panel may be straight or curved for thepinched waist effect. In the latter case, the at- 5 tached strip for the fabric extension is preferred con struction.

(B) Various modifications in the form and construction of my device may obviously be resorted to if within the limits of the appended claims.

What I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

11. A jacket comprising a front body panel, a back body panel, stitching forming a side seam which joins said front body panel to said back body panel and a felling panel stitched to the inside of the front body panel for the lining thereof, an extension of said front body panel which is folded inwardly at the inside rear edge of said front body panel to provide a margin of material of said front body panel which extends from said side seam inwardly along the entire height of said front body panel, and which is reverse tucked inwardly to provide a double thickness of front body panel marginal material at the side seam stitching location with the remaining marginal extension of the reverse tucked marginal material of the front body panel extending forwardly of said side seam to its attachment to said felling panel, the rear vertical edge of said fell-ing panel being stitched only to the edge 6 of said margin which is remote from said side seam whereby the stitching of said lining closest the side seam cannot be perceived on the outside of 'said jacket through the front panel and heavier thread by conventional machine sewing may be used in attaching said lining to said margin.

2. A jacket as claimed in claim 1 wherein said margin is of substantially uniform width and varies in width from about A to about 8 3 the width of said front body panel.

3. A jacket as claimed in claim 1 constructed of light weight fabric wherein said margin is an integral extension of the same fabric as the said fabric front body portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 593,370 Brock Nov. 9, 1897 1,298,845 Williams Apr. 1, 1919 1,683,226 Zuck Sept. 4, 1928 1,697,959 Maronna Ian. 8, 1929 2,515,038 Harper July 11, 1950 

